Features of Epic Theatre 2

Stagecraft:
- A bare stage
- Minimal Stage 
- Minimal lighting 
- Minimal Props 

Everything was indicated that this was theatre, not real life.

It was the completely opposite approach to Naturalism

Role of the Actor:
The role of the actor is to primarily arouse the critical consciousness of the audience members 

The actor should not generate any emotional empathy.

Ways to Alienate

Signs: 
- Big signs were used to designate:
   Obvious stage props 
   Characters
   Places 
   Or to comment on action 

Song:
- Songs were used to break up the scenes 
- To alienate the audience 
- To comment on the action in the play

Generalised Characters:
- As Epic Theatre discouraged audiences from identifying with or becoming too attached to characters, general roles were written.
- Some characters had names but often they were only know as mother, worker etc.

Actor:
- Actors often stepped out of the action to talk directly to the audience.

Historification (word that only exists in epic theatre):
- All events were set in the past
- He didn't want audiences to bring their own contemporary societal conditioning to view the pay
- This was so that audiences would be able to watch and consider critically  

Features of Epic Theatre

- Alienation 
a) He did not want his audience to sympathise with characters on stage.
b) He wanted the audience to feel estranged, separated detached.
c) Breaking the forth wall.

- Narration
a) He wants the audience to feel detached.

- Episodic
a) Containing or consisting of a series of separate parts or events: an episodic narrative.
b) Brecht's plays consisted of short scenes / episodic broken up by narration song and dance.

Linear Structure
A, B, C Structure 
Non-linear Structure 
A, B, A ---> Cyclic Structure.

- No stage illusions
a) Actors moved props around
b) No blackouts for the scene changes - lights were left on
c) Props are minimal
d) Scenes were often augmented with slide projections. 

- Chorus


- Signs


- Song
a) The song does not compliment the mood of the play or scene. 

- Generalisation 

Alienation Practical

Today we had an alienation technique, theres what we did...

- We discarded our old names and adopted a new name.

- The name I choose is Jacqueline (jack - quew - lin), I was a ratchet name. 

The activity was interesting, in realism people have two names. But in this activity the class only had one name, placing a distance between reality and the un-relatable, causing alienation. 
(Criteria B Skill Development)

Brecht's Philosophy

 
Bertolt Brecht
Class Notes:
- He believed theatre should be political.
- He believed that theatre should be used to force people to think.
- He opposed theatre as entertainment or escapism.
- He sought to create the opposite.

- He wanted audiences to leave his plays having learn't something about themselves and the world.
- Brecht lived over a period in history which included both World War, Nazism, the Great Depression, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

- Brecht despised the romantic, the sentimental and the realistic.
- He promoted political theatre. 
- He did not want the audience to accept the play as a form of real life. 
- He wanted the concepts presented to be looked at objectively.

- Brecht created a distinct style called Epic theatre
- It is sometimes referred to as theatre of Alienation
- Brecht had been influenced by many other earlier theatrical practitioners and theatrical styles, even those from Asia.

Personal Notes: 
- Brecht wanted his work to be controversial and instigate thoughts and feeling in the audience.
- We wanted the audience to bring their brains in the performance. 

Unit 2 - Epic Theater

Statement of Inquiry:

By re-designing traditional conventions theatre has the power tom motivate audiences into bring about social change.

Key Concepts:

Change 

Global Context:

*Fairness and Development 

Didactic |dɪˈdaktɪk, dʌɪ-|

Adjective

Intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive: a didactic novel that set out to expose social injustice.

 Bertolt Brecht was one of the most influential practitioner of Epic theatre